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Herrera Edges Lundy in Close Technical Decision

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Mauricio Herrera beat Hank Lundy via a close technical decision after their fight was stopped early due to a bad cut on the eye of the American. In an anti-climatic ending, referee Jack Reiss stopped the fight with fifty-one seconds left in the fifth round due to an unmanageable cut to Mauricio Herrera's right eye caused by a clash of heads in round one. Herrera was cut again to the left side of his face in the second round from a head clash.

Each fighter exposed a weakness in the other which was manifest in the ebb and flow of the match. In Herrera's case, he really cannot handle speed. His strength is in using his technical ability to out-craft less athletic opponents who tend to rely on their power. Hank Lundy is a typical athletic boxer who, in addition to having a small stature, seems not to maintain his work rate over the long haul.So there was a trend where Lundy started the rounds very active, beating Herrera to the punch and then moving out of the away. But Herrera finished the rounds as the aggressor while Lundy was less active. Beginning in round two, Herrera was repeatedly warned for hitting on the break. This was retaliation for the fact that Lundy would jest as if he were going to clinch or wait for the referee to separate them on the inside. But before the referee would have time to separate the fighters, Lundy would unleash clean combinations on Herrera.

Image: German Villasenor

On multiple occasions Herrera stopped fighting, put his hands in the air, and gestured for Lundy to come towards him. This demonstrated how easily Lundy could use his speed to box and move without Herrera being able to doing anything about it. After all, it was Herrera who jabbed and moved against Ruslan Provodnikov and Danny Garcia.That this fight merited a draw at the time of the stoppage is very revealing in regards to Hank Lundy. Maybe he would have gained control in the latter rounds, but I doubt it. Lundy is good in spurts but will relapse into periods of sluggishness where he shows very little offense or defense. I expected Herrera's lack of speed to make it difficult for him to land cleanly, but that he did for the aforementioned reason.A rematch would not look any different, but Hank Lundy lost unfairly in a fight that could have gone either way. One scorecard had it a draw, but Herrera won by majority decision overall, earning him the vacant NABF super-lightweight title.In the post-fight interview, Herrera stated that he wants Lucas Matthysse next. Both Matthysse and himself are signed to Golden Boy Promotions. More: Boxing